It is known to treat kaolin clays with quaternary amines to form quaternary clay gellants as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,125. Such clay gellants are taught to be useful for incorporation into polyester as a pre-gel for the unsaturated polyester. Similar disclosures may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,317,737 and 4,365,030.
It is also known to improve the dispersibility of smectite clays by reaction of a smectite clay with a quaternary ammonium compound These products are disclosed as being useful as thixotropic agents in organic media such as lubricating greases, oil based drilling fluids, paints, varnishes, enamels and printing inks. These disclosures may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,743,305, 4,743,306, 4,623,398, 4,631,091, and 4,683,259. The problem disclosed in these patents for use of the smectite quaternary ammonium reaction products is to overcome problems in dispersibility in an organic medium whereby the surface of the clay is rendered hydrophobic by the cation exchange reaction.
There is also a need in the art to improve the dispersibility of organic solvents/oil based inks and in particular to improve such dispersibility with less shear. The present invention therefore satisfies a number of needs in the ink formulation art.